Bangkok floods swamp Democrats
Published:10/06/2015 at 06:56 PM
Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has admitted the spill-over of criticism of flood handling by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is affecting the popularity of the party in the capital.
Mr Abhisit said on Wednesday the anger of Bangkokians after the floods was understandable.
With the next gubernatorial election not due until 2017, all former city councellors and MPs for Bangkok have been ordered by the party leader to be active in their constituencies to directly report complaints by voters to Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.
MR Sukhumbhand was the target of anger in Bangkok after the floods in many areas as he was not seen to be tackling the problem. People were unaware that the governor was in Rotterdam to attend the 2nd Policing Global Cities conference.
The criticism forced him to skip the rest of the forum and he returned from the Netherlands to Thailand on Wednesday.
Asked about the governor's chances of running in the next poll, Mr Abhisit said he could not decide the future as urgent matters must be resolved first.
MR Sukhumbhand explained on his Facebook account that the meeting would benefit the capital with new knowledge to cope with the expanding city and changing weather conditions.
He attended a meeting with BMA officials after returning to Bangkok and said he had not ignored the flooding problem and defended the BMA operation, saying officials were able to drain water from the roads quicker than the last flood on March 24.
The governor is attending a meeting with Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday ordered the Interior Ministry to work with City Hall to map out better plans to handle future floods.